Students’ concert aims to support Snowdrop

Music students at the University of Chichester have organised a concert in support of The Sussex Snowdrop Trust, after the son of their lecturer was diagnosed with leukaemia.

The Sounds of Snowdrops concert is a student-led initiative to do something positive to show support for senior lecturer Alison Woodward, her family and her six year-old son, Miles.

The idea for the concert came from the Preparing for a Public Performance module, part of which also sees the students travel to local schools to put on concerts and workshops with an Olympic theme that emphasises diversity, inclusivity and challenges.

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Laura Ritchie, senior lecturer in music, said: “It’s amazing that the students have grouped together to organise this concert. It really goes to show the sense of community that there is at the University; the students are just as keen to support the staff as vice versa.

“These students have taken on the spirit of this Preparing for a Public Performance module and have made it their own. They organised this concert without using any of the music department’s administrative facilities.

“The group has developed a strong identity, as the final cohort completing the instrumental/ vocal teaching foundation degree before the new BMus courses are launched next year. From going into area schools to do concerts and workshops, to shadowing the BBC Symphony, to this fund-raising concert, they have been 100 per cent committed.”

Alison, who knew nothing of the organisation of the concert, said: “The Snowdrop Trust has been amazing. They have completely transformed our life at home.”

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The Sounds of Snowdrops concert will be held in the Chapel at the University’s Bishop Otter Campus on Thursday, March 29 at 6.30pm. The concert is open to the public. Entry is free, and donations will be collected for the Trust at the event.